The Big Move at Rockingham

• Last weekend saw our East Rockingham Waste-to-Energy facility start The Big Move of nine preassembled Boiler Cube modules, travelling the 1.6 km from AGC’s fabrication facility to site under police escort at night.

Modules # 101 and 103 completed the trip via two Self-Propelled Modular Transporters (SPMTs), using 16 axles per unit.

Module 101 (15.7m wide x 18.4m long x 14m high, weighing 310 tonnes) departed the preassembly facility at 11pm on Saturday night, arrived on-site at 1am and landed on the temporary storage pad at 2am on Sunday. Module 103 (15.7 x 18.5 x 14m, weighing 190T) departed at 4.30am on Sunday and arrived on-site at 7.30am. The cubes will now be moved into place by the world’s largest crane (by lifting capacity).

Prep works for this substantial logistical feat included:

• Engineering, fabrication and installation of temporary steel to facilitate the module movement
• Lane closures along three main roads as per the Traffic Management Plan
• Tree lopping along the travel route as per the Environmental Permit
• Light post and signage removal, and
• Placement of steel plates to safely cross underground gas pipelines.

And no doubt a bit of pressure on the team!

Project Director Tim Deighton said thanks for “a huge effort by all involved.”

“Despite one of the wettest nights in a long time, the difficult move through a narrow route was achieved safely and in a timely manner.

“A lot of dogged determination from the team to overcome many obstacles.”

The decision to preassemble the modules offsite has saved the project significate time against the program.